Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Sabrina the Not-Yet Teenaged Witch, and Bobby and Gregg and The Boys.  Hope you all have a safe and fun time!

*Yes this is our front yard, minus the smoke from the fog machine and the spooky lights.  We tend to go a little crazy on Halloween!

Murder on Halloween Eve

It was dark and spooky before the moon came up the night before Halloween.  Grover, an avid collector of Costco dog biscuits and against all good advice, had struck out on his own.  But fate had other plans.  And so in a scene of unspeakable horror he lay, brains spilled out amid incriminating black hairs, his remaining cold dead eye staring out in terror...

But what's this?  Witnesses!

The suspect is quickly rounded up complete with the grizzly evidence.  A trophy of his gruesome deed.

The judge was quick in her dispense of justice, although there were rumors she was closer to the victim then she let on.

The killer is behind bars where he belongs...

"I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling muppets.  My revenge will be sweet do you hear?  Sweet!"

A Day at the Museum

Today we went to the Phoenix Children's Museum.  It was an event organized by our Dad's Group.  I didn't know what to expect, since I'd go to the Museum of Natural History in NYC when I was little.  Stuffed penguins, stuffed otters, stuffed birds...naturally I assumed this would be the same, except with children.  I was pleasently surprised to find out it wasn't like that, and instead was a place for play and learning.  There were some pretty cool things there.  A whole room of those noodles you play with in the pool, hanging horizontally from the ceiling, creating a crazy maze like space.  A room with all kinds of tubes and pipes where you put balls in at the top and they go shooting all over the place.  Sabrina loved both of those and was fascinated watching the balls shooting down the pipes.  There was a baby space as well and she had some fun there playing with soft blocks and looking at all the touching displays.  One was made out of different brushes, and each had it's own texture.  Another was different size balls hanging from the ceiling. 

Checking out mobiles

Learning to iron...better get used to it kid!

Marilyn Monroe minute over the air jet

Lunch with Papa

Lots of cool stuff, but just one question...is a sculpture made of knives and forks the best thing to have hanging over the kids in the playroom?  Just asking.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Chipmunk!

It's so strange to write a post wishing Sabrina a Happy 6 Month's Birthday.  In some ways I still can't even believe we have a baby, let alone one that turned half a year old today.  I guess when you resign yourself to the fact that you'll never have a child and then carry that with you for 20 years it becomes ingrained.  Even as we prepared and completed the 11 month process of being cleared for adoption, in the back of my mind something was telling me we were going to waste a whole lot of money on this, remain childless, and then move on.  The three week match and month long wait for her arrival was surreal.  I hate to say this because I've heard it thousands of times before from other parents, but I honestly was not prepared for the total love I feel for that kid.  Especially now, when she's so interactive, inquisitive, and playful.  All she does is laugh and talk her baby language all day; crying is a rarity.  Even day care asked, "Does she ever stop talking?".  I told Gregg today as we were playing with her on the bed, I never thought it would be like this.  She is the most amazing, wonderful thing ever to happen to us and she makes my heart explode when I see her.  I thank her incredible birth mother every night, and can't wait to see her next month and show her the bundle of love she gave us.  Here are some pics of the last few days.  Happy (Half) Birthday Little Girl!

Practicing Karate With Papa

Using the "Big Girl" Part of the Stroller...No Infant Seat!

Cool New PJ's With a Stylin' Cap

Getting Ready for Her First Halloween

Laughing While Sitting Makes You Fall Down!

Goodbye Little Micky

Our green parakeet, Little Micky, died today.  He was about seven years old.  Poor Little Micky.

I always liked parakeets.  I had some when I was a kid.  I had one, Comet, that I trained to do all kinds of circus tricks.  To show what kind of a nerd I was, at 13 my first article was published.  It was a corny poem about parakeets in American Cage Bird Magazine.  Yeah I know, not the coolest kid in the world, I mean what kid has a subscription to that?  My parents must have thought I was a weirdo.  Well we still have the cockatiels, Marty and his son Maxie.

We'll miss you Little Micky.

Chugga Chugga Choo Choo

This week day care was closed on Monday, so I took the day off and Sabrina and I went to the Scottsdale Railroad Park.  We met my sister Sue and my mother, and Sue's kids Timmy and Lissy.  It was a great day with temps around 85 and a little breeze.  The park has a railroad that runs through it, as well as a carosel, and a playground.  There are actual railcars that you can visit and rail road museums.  It's really nice.  Grandma got our tickets (what a bargain...$2) for the train and off we went.  The cars are open topped and not really any sides, so I'm thinking "Great, I hope Grandma doesn't drop the baby off the side".  Sabrina liked it but at first didn't know what to think.  My nephew took video and you need an iron stomach to watch it will all the moving around!  After that, we had some ice cream and our first carosel ride:

Too bad Greggory had to work.  I think when his mom comes to visit for Thanksgiving we'll take her there, I think she'll enjoy it.  They do decorations and characters like Santa and Disney guys for Christmas, but that won't start until December.  Sabrina was happy to spend the day with Grandma:

Sweet Potato Saturday Night

Before

During

After

Apparently, you can be cute and gross at the same time.